Discarding cigarette butts from vehicles is an expensive violation of state laws, yet many smokers continue to disregard these laws. In campsites there always seem to be cigarette butts littered around campfires and gathering places. No ashtrays are normally furnished in golf carts; thus cigarette butts are too often seen littered around tees and greens. Many vehicle ashtrays are difficult to remove for cleaning and many are so small that ashes and butts are often spilled therefrom. Many vehicle owners who smoke prefer not to use their vehicle ashtrays as the burning cigarettes and cigars stain the ashtray interior finish which they feel may decrease the value of the vehicle for resale. With state laws increasingly limiting smoking in buildings, more smokers are forced to smoke outside, increasing the potential for littering. Therefore to help preserve the environment, there is a need for an ashtray that is disposable, portable, pocketable and foldable, that fits a vehicle cup holder, that can be mounted to objects, that is simple to assemble, easy to carry and inexpensive so smokers will not hesitate to use them.
Prior art discloses many designs of ashtrays that are considered disposable, portable, pocketable and/or foldable. Some will conveniently fit into a vehicle cup holder. Some are made from a single blank. A matrix of prior art is extensive. Therefore, mentioned herein are only a few ashtray inventions that include some of the desired attributes.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,071,394 to Douglas, U.S. Pat. No. 2,796,067 to McCutcheon, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,561,670 to Segal et al are all formed from a single blank and are considered disposable, portable, pocketable and foldable. However, these inventions are not adequately designed to rest in a vehicle cup holder and McCutcheon and Segal et al are not for table top use.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,634,014 to Carr is formed from a single blank, is disposable, portable and will work in a vehicle cup holder only if the user has an opened beverage can.
U.S. Design Pat. No. 307,947 to Wells et al, Pat. No. Des. 401,009 to Hicaro et al and Pat. No. Des. 403,804 to Silkaitis are cup holder ashtrays, but are not foldable and pocketable.
Heretofore, no prior art addresses a cup holder ashtray that will conveniently fit in a vehicle cup holder that is disposable, portable, pocketable, foldable, un-foldable, reusable, simple and economically inexpensive to fabricate from a single blank. Neither can any prior art ashtray be furnished to the smoker as a packaging box with multiple packs of cigarettes or packaged folded with a single package of cigarettes, or carried folded in a shirt pocket or a purse and mountable to a variety of objects.
For purposes of brevity the disposable foldable cup holder ashtray of this invention will be referred to as an “ashtray”.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an ashtray that is disposable, portable, pocketable, foldable, and reusable.
It is another object of the invention to provide an ashtray that fits into a vehicle cup holder.
It is another object of the invention to provide an ashtray that can be made available to the smoker as a package for multiple packs of cigarettes.
It is another object of the invention to provide an ashtray that will fold to a size that can be packaged with a single pack of cigarettes and carried in a shirt pocket or a purse.
It is another object of the invention to provide an ashtray that is simple, easy and quick to assemble.
It is another object of the invention to provide an ashtray that can be folded and packaged flat with a plurality of folded ashtrays packaged for marketing.
It is another object of the invention to provide an ashtray that is inexpensive.
It is another object of the invention to provide an ashtray that can be fabricated from a single blank.